Day: December 30, 2009

In the twentieth century the Islamic world witnessed great changes and transformations as well as shocking tension. The Islamic world, composed of the Ottoman Empire as well as the countries which were colonized by imperialists at the very beginning of the century, suffered the most depressed time from World War I to World War II. After the unfortunate collapse of the Ottoman Empire, all the other Islamic countries shattered like the beads of a rosary and were collonized by the Western countries. There were almost no independent Muslim countries in…

Interviews from Youth Gathering When the calendar shows 10th August 2009, the story starts with enormous excitement. The excitement of embracing each other from all over the world, the excitement of refreshing the ukhuwwah, the fellowship among the Ummah. No matter how easy it’s to say “We are one nation.” It is also that harder to provide it in reality. All of us know providing the unity is not as easy as saying it with the lips. But doesn’t each success start with a dream and followed by the action…

Allah created humans as the best and grown-up fruit of the tree of the universe. Allah placed the talent of love, which can surround the whole universe, to the heart of the human, the core of that fruit. The human keeps love for all beings. He loves his planet as much as his home and loves the eternal paradise as much as his garden. Indeed, the beings he loves are not permanent but are leaving. Newcomers are going away and the leavers are not coming back. He always suffers from…

Interviews How should we interpret the importance that our Prophet (PBUH) gave to knowledge? The beauty, perfection, wisdom and thoroughness of everything relies on its relation to knowledge. The futility and uselessness of all things are harmful fruits of ignorance and lack of knowledge.

A piece of news that Ustad Bediuzzaman read in a newspaper in 1898, when he was a guest in the house the Governor of Province Van, was a milestone in his life. According to the news, in a speech he delivered in the House of Commons, Gladstone, the minister for colonies, held the Quran in his hand and said: “As long as this Quran is kept by the Muslims, we cannot dominate them. We must either take the Quran away from them, or we must alienate them from the Qur’an.”…

QURAN AS THE ABSOLUTE SOURCE OF RELIGION One of the fundamental reasons which urged Nursi to expound his ideas in Risale-i Nur is his the sudden realization of the greatness of the Qur’an after reading a report of a statement made in the British house of Commons by the Minister of State at the Colonial Office: “So long as the Muslims have the Qur’an, we shall be unable to dominate them. Either we must take it from them or we must make them lose their love of it.” Struck by…

An individual bears the responsibility of faith and good deeds in this worldly life. But then, there is the evil-commanding soul, which will prevent him from fulfilling his obligations and stop him from all sorts of holy services. Therefore, the hardest struggle of the human throughout history has been with his greatest enemy, the evil-commanding soul, and the human has always tried to find remedies in order not to be defeated by his evil-commanding soul. Our time is the darkest and the most terrifying of all times. Of course, the…

After the passing away of the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W), the seed of Islam was already flourishing in most of the Arab world through the untiring and divinely-inspired efforts of the Companions and Tabiin’s. The years between the 12th to 17th centuries, may be considered – the proverbial ‘golden age’ of Islam as the religion was given a free passage by the Ottoman Empire over its entire dominions which had penetrated deep into Southeast Europe, Northeast Africa and Southwest Asia. Having defeated all of its contemporary empires, including the Byzantine Empire…

Muslims founded many great states even empires during history and ruled over continents. They reached an economically high level. They have receded and become poor for the past few centuries. The chief reasons for that are as follows: THE DECREASE OF THE DIVINE DISPATCH AND PROPHET STIMULATION Human being were created with a desire to (be able to) work. Action is essential in the universe. Waiting uselessly is inconvenient. Because of that, it is widely observed that the indolent man becomes disgraced and ashamed. Our ability to work is stated…

Thank Allah for being a citizen of a Muslim country where 99 per cent of people are Muslim according to statistical data. This is worth being grateful for and a pleasing state. But a far important consideration is the percentage of the Islam that I put into practice. I have always been happy to be a Muslim. I have always been proud of being an individual in a Muslim society. As a matter of fact I have always suffered from not being a real Muslim. I haven’t been able to…